Traditionally, its name was thought to come from
Nahuatltetl/ˈtetɬ/
("rock") and nōchtli/ˈnoːtʃtɬi/
("prickly pear") and is often thought to mean "Among the prickly pears [growing among] rocks". However, one attestation in the late 16th-century manuscript known as "the Bancroft dialogues" suggest the second vowel was short, so that the true etymology remains uncertain.[33]

The suffix
-co
is the Nahuatl locative, making the word a place name. Beyond that, the etymology is uncertain. It has been suggested that it is derived from
Mextli
or Mēxihtli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Mexicas, Huitzilopochtli, in which case Mēxihco means "Place where Huitzilopochtli lives".[34]
Another hypothesis[35]
suggests that Mēxihco
derives from a portmanteau
of the Nahuatl words for "Moon" (Mētztli) and navel (xīctli). This meaning ("Place at the Center of the Moon") might then refer to Tenochtitlan's position in the middle of
Lake Texcoco. The system of interconnected lakes, of which Texcoco formed the center, had the form of a rabbit, which the Mesoamericans
pareidolically
associated with the Moon. Still another hypothesis suggests that it is derived from Mēctli, the goddess of
maguey.[35]

The name of the city-state was transliterated to Spanish as México with the phonetic value of the letter 'x' in Medieval Spanish, which represented the
voiceless postalveolar fricative[ʃ]. This sound, as well as the
voiced postalveolar fricative[ʒ], represented by a 'j', evolved into a
voiceless velar fricative[x]
during the 16th century. This led to the use of the variant Méjico in many publications in Spanish, most notably in Spain, whereas in Mexico and most other Spanish–speaking countries México was the preferred spelling. In recent years the Real Academia Española, which regulates the Spanish language, determined that both variants are acceptable in Spanish but that the normative recommended
spelling
is México.[36]
The majority of publications in all Spanish-speaking countries now adhere to the new norm, even though the alternative variant is still occasionally used.[citation needed]
In English, the 'x' in Mexico represents neither the original nor the current sound, but the consonant cluster
[ks].

The official name of the country has changed as the
form of government
has changed. On three occasions (1325–1521, 1821–1823, and 1863–1867). The country was known as Imperio Mexicano
(Mexican Empire). All three federal constitutions (1824, 1857 and 1917, the current constitution) used the name
Estados Unidos Mexicanos[37]—or the variant
Estados-Unidos Mexicanos,[38]
all of which have been translated as "United Mexican States". The phrase República Mexicana, "Mexican Republic", was used in the 1836 Constitutional Laws.[39]
On November 22, 2012, president Felipe Calderón
sent to the Mexican Congress a piece of legislation to change the country's name officially to simply Mexico. To go into effect, the bill would need to be passed by both houses of Congress, as well as a majority of Mexico's 31 State legislatures. As this legislation was proposed just a week before
Calderón
turned power over to Enrique Peña Nieto, Calderón's critics saw this as a symbolic gesture.[40]

These civilizations are credited with many inventions and advancements including architecture, mathematics, writing, metallurgy,
astronomy, medicine, and theology.

Archaic period

The earliest
human
remains in Mexico are chips of stone tools
found near campfire remains in the Valley of Mexico and radiocarbon-dated to circa 10,000 years ago.[41]
Mexico is the site of the domestication of maize and beans
which caused a transition from paleo-Indian
hunter-gatherers to sedentary agricultural villages beginning around 5000 BCE.[42]

Classic periods (1500 BC–700 AD)

In the subsequent formative eras, maize cultivation and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious complex, a vigesimal numeric system, were diffused from the Mexican cultures to the rest of the
Mesoamerican
culture area.[43]
In this period villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms, and large ceremonial centers developed.[44]

Among the earliest complex civilizations in Mexico was the
Olmec
culture which flourished on the Gulf Coast from around 1500 BCE. Olmec cultural traits diffused through Mexico into other formative-era cultures in Chiapas, Oaxaca and the Valley of Mexico. The formative period saw the spread of distinct religious and symbolic traditions, as well as artistic and architectural complexes.[45]

In Central Mexico, the height of the classic period saw the ascendancy of
Teotihuacan, which formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area as well as north. Teotihuacan, with a population of more than 150,000 people, had some of the largest
pyramidal structures
in the pre-Columbian Americas.[47]
After the collapse of Teotihuacán around 600 CE, competition ensued between several important political centers in central Mexico such as Xochicalco
and Cholula. At this time, during the Epi-Classic,
Nahua peoples
began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North, and became politically and culturally dominant in central Mexico, as they displaced speakers of Oto-Manguean languages.

Post-classic period (700–1519 AD)

During the early post-classic Central Mexico was dominated by the
Toltec
culture, Oaxaca
by the Mixtec
and the lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá
and Mayapán. Towards the end of the post-Classic period the Mexica.

Alexander von Humboldt originated the modern usage of "Aztec" as a collective term applied to all the people linked by trade, custom, religion, and language to the
Mexica state
and Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, the Triple Alliance. In 1843, with the publication of the work of William H. Prescott, it was adopted by most of the world, including 19th century Mexican scholars who saw it as a way to distinguish present-day Mexicans from pre-conquest Mexicans. This usage has been the subject of debate in more recent years.[48]

The Aztec empire was an informal or hegemonic empire because it did not exert supreme authority over the conquered lands; it merely expected tributes to be paid. It was also a discontinuous empire because not all dominated territories were connected; for example, the southern peripheral zones of
Xoconochco
were not in direct contact with the center. The hegemonic nature of the Aztec empire can be seen in the fact that generally local rulers were restored to their positions once their city-state was conquered and the Aztecs did not interfere in local affairs, as long as the tribute payments were made.[49]

The Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mexico.[50]
The Aztecs were noted for practicing human sacrifice
on a large scale, although this generally misunderstood. Along with this practice of delayed death, the killing of enemies on the battlefield was avoided; making their warring casualty rate far lower than their Spanish counterparts whose principal objective was immediate slaughter during battle.[51]
This distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, and over the next centuries Mexican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule.[52]

Conquest (1519)

The Spanish first heard of Mexico during the
Juan de Grijalva
expedition of 1518, the natives kept "repeating: Colua, Colua, and
Mexico, Mexico, but we did not know what
Colua
or Mexico
meant", until encountering Montezuma's Governor at the mouth of the Rio de las Banderas.[53]:33-36
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
began in February 1519 when Hernán Cortés
arrived at the port in Veracruz
with ca. 500 conquistadores, and later moved on to the Aztec capital. On his search for gold and other riches, Cortés decided to invade and conquer the Aztec empire.[54]

The ruler of the Aztec empire upon the arrival of the Spaniards was
Moctezuma II, who was later killed; his successor and brother
Cuitláhuac
took control of the Aztec empire, but was among the first to fall from the smallpox epidemic a short time later.[55]
Unintentionally introduced by Spanish conquerors, smallpox
ravaged Mesoamerica in the 1520s, killing more than 3 million Aztecs.[56]
Other sources, however, mentioned that the death toll of the Aztecs might have reached up to 15 million (out of a population of less than 30 million).[57]
Severely weakened, the Aztec empire was easily defeated by Cortés and his forces on his second return.[58]

Smallpox was a devastating and selective disease—it generally killed Aztecs but not Spaniards, who as Europeans had already been exposed to it for centuries and were therefore much more immune to it.[59]
The deaths caused by smallpox are believed to have triggered a rapid growth of Christianity in Mexico and the Americas. At first, the Aztecs believed the epidemic was a punishment from an angry god, but they later accepted their fate and no longer resisted the Spanish rule.[60]
Many of the surviving Aztecs blamed the cause of smallpox to the superiority of the Christian god, which resulted in the acceptance of Catholicism and yielding to the Spanish rule throughout Mexico.[61]

Period of the conquest (1521–1650)

Contrary to a widespread misconception, Spain did not conquer all of the Aztec Empire when Cortes took Tenochtitlan. It required another two centuries to complete the conquest: rebellions broke out within the old Empire and wars continued with other native peoples.

After the fall of Tenochtitlan, it took decades of sporadic warfare to subdue the rest of
Mesoamerica. Particularly fierce was the
Chichimeca War
(1576–1606) and the Tepehuán Revolt
(1616-1620) in the north.

Economics. The
Council of Indies
and the mendicant
establishments, which arose in Mesoamerica as early as 1524, labored to generate capital for the crown of Spain and convert the Indian populations to Catholicism. During this period and the following Colonial periods the sponsorship of mendicant friars and a process of religious syncretism combined the Pre-Hispanic cultures with Spanish socio-religious tradition.

The resulting hodgepodge of culture was a pluriethnic State that relied on the "repartimiento", a system of peasant "Republic of Indians" labor that carried out any necessary work. Thus, the existing feudal system of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican culture was replaced by the
encomienda
feudal-style system of Spain, probably adapted to the pre-Hispanic tradition. This in turn was finally replaced by a debt-based inscription of labor that led to widespread revitalization movements and prompted the revolution that ended colonial New Spain.

Evolution of the Race. During the three centuries of colonial rule, less than 700,000 Spaniards, most of them men, settled in Mexico. The settlers intermarried with indigenous women, fathering the mixed race (mestizo) descendents who today constitute the majority of Mexico's population.

Territories populated by nomadic peoples were harder to conquer, and though the
Spanish
did explore a good part of North America, seeking the fabled "El Dorado", they made no concerted effort to settle the northern desert regions in what is now the
United States
until the end of the 16th century (Santa Fe, 1598).

Colonial law with
Spanish
roots but original native features were introduced, creating a hierarchy between local jurisdiction (the Cabildos) and the
Crown's, whereby upper administrative offices were closed to the natives, even those of pure Spanish blood. Administration was based on the
racial separation
of the population among "Republics" of Spaniards, Indians and Mestizos, autonomous
and directly dependent on the king
himself.

From an economic point of view,
New Spain
was administered principally for the benefit of the Empire
and its military and defensive efforts (Mexico provided more than half of the Empire's taxes and supported the administration of all North
and Central America). Competition with Spain was discouraged to the extent that activities like cultivation of
grapes
and olives, introduced by
Cortez
himself, was banned out of fear that these crops would compete with Spain's.

In order to protect the country from the attacks of English, French and Dutch
pirates, as well as the Crown's revenue, only two ports were open to foreign trade—Veracruz
on the Atlantic
and Acapulco
on the Pacific. The pirates attacked, plundered and ravaged several cities like
Campeche
(1557), Veracruz
(1568) and Alvarado
(1667).

Education was encouraged by the
Crown
from the very beginning, and Mexico boasts the first primary school (Texcoco, 1523), first university (1551) and the first printing house (1524) of the
Americas. Indigenous languages were studied mainly by the religious orders during the first centuries, and became official languages in the so-called Republic of Indians, only to be outlawed and ignored after independence by the prevailing
Spanish-speaking
creoles.

Mexican Revolution (1910–1929)

President Díaz announced in 1908 that he would retire in 1911, resulting in the development of new coalitions. But then he ran for reelection anyway and in a show of U.S. support, Díaz and
William Howard Taft
planned a summit in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, for October 16, 1909, an historic first meeting between a Mexican and a U.S. president and also the first time an American president would cross the border into Mexico.[69]
Both sides agreed that the disputed Chamizal strip
connecting El Paso to Ciudad Juárez would be considered neutral territory with no flags present during the summit, but the meeting focused attention on this territory and resulted in assassination threats and other serious security concerns.[69]
On the day of the summit, Frederick Russell Burnham, the celebrated scout, and Private C.R. Moore, a
Texas Ranger, discovered a man holding a concealed
palm pistol
standing at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce building along the procession route, and they disarmed the assassin within only a few feet of Díaz and Taft.[69]
Both presidents were unharmed and the summit was held.[69]
Díaz was re-elected in 1910, but alleged electoral fraud forced him into exile in France and sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution, initially led by
Francisco I. Madero.

Madero was elected president but
overthrown and murdered
in a coup d'état
two years later directed by conservative general Victoriano Huerta. That event re-ignited the civil war, involving figures such as
Francisco Villa
and Emiliano Zapata, who formed their own forces. A third force, the
constitutional army
led by Venustiano Carranza
managed to bring an end to the war, and radically amended the 1857 Constitution to include many of the social premises and demands of the revolutionaries into what was eventually called the 1917 Constitution. It is estimated that the war killed 900,000 of the 1910 population of 15 million.[70][71]
Assassinated in 1920, Carranza was succeeded by another revolutionary hero, Álvaro Obregón, who in turn was succeeded by
Plutarco Elías Calles. Obregón was reelected in 1928 but assassinated before he could assume power. Although this period is usually referred to as the Mexican Revolution, it might also be termed a civil war since president Díaz (1909) narrowly escaped assassination and presidents Francisco I. Madero (1913), Venustiano Carranza (1920), Álvaro Obregón (1928), and former revolutionary leaders Emiliano Zapata (1919) and Pancho Villa (1923) all were assassinated during this period.

One-party rule (1929–2000)

In 1929, Calles founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), later renamed the
Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI), and started a period known as the Maximato, which ended with the election of
Lázaro Cárdenas, who implemented many economic and social reforms. This included the
Mexican oil expropriation
in March 1938, which nationalized the U.S.
and Anglo-Dutch
oil company known as the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company. This movement would result in the creation of the state-owned Mexican oil company known as
Pemex. This sparked a diplomatic crisis with the countries whose citizens had lost businesses by Cárdenas' radical measure, but since then the company has played an important role in the economic development of Mexico.

Between 1940 and 1980, Mexico remained a poor country but experienced substantial economic growth that some historians call the "Mexican miracle".[72]
Although the economy continued to flourish, social inequality
remained a factor of discontent. Moreover, the PRI rule became increasingly authoritarian and at times oppressive[73]
(see the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre,[74]
which claimed the life of around 30–800 protesters).[75]

End of one-party rule (2000–)

In December 1994, a month after Salinas was succeeded by
Ernesto Zedillo, the
Mexican economy collapsed, with a rapid rescue package authorized by the
U.S.
President, Bill Clinton, and major macroeconomic reforms started by President Zedillo, the economy rapidly recovered and growth peaked at almost 7% by the end of 1999.[79]

Administrative divisions

The United Mexican States are a federation of 31 free and sovereign states, which form a union that exercises a degree of jurisdiction over the
Federal District
and other territories.

Each state has its own constitution,
congress, and a judiciary, and its citizens elect by
direct voting
a governor
for a six-year term, and representatives to their respective unicameral state congresses for three-year terms.[81]

The Federal District is a special political division that belongs to the federation as a whole and not to a particular state, and as such, has more limited local rule than the nation's states.[82]

Government and politics

Government

The United Mexican States are a federation whose government is
representative, democratic and
republican
based on a presidential system according to the 1917 Constitution. The constitution establishes three levels of government: the federal Union, the state governments and the municipal governments. According to the constitution, all constituent states of the federation must have a republican form of government composed of three branches: the executive, represented by a governor and an appointed cabinet, the legislative branch constituted by a unicameral congress and the judiciary, which will include called state Supreme Court of Justice. They also have their own civil and judicial codes.

The federal Congress, as well as the state legislatures, are elected by a system of
parallel voting
that includes plurality and proportional representation.[85]
The Chamber of Deputies has 500 deputies. Of these, 300 are elected by plurality vote
in single-member districts
(the federal electoral districts) and 200 are elected by proportional representation with
closed party lists[86]
for which the country is divided into five electoral constituencies.[87]
The Senate is made up of 128 senators. Of these, 64 senators (two for each state and two for the Federal District) are elected by plurality vote in pairs; 32 senators are the first minority or first-runner up (one for each state and one for the Federal District), and 32 are elected by proportional representation from national closed party lists.[86]

The highest organ of the
judicial branch
of government is the Supreme Court of Justice, the national
supreme court, which has eleven judges appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. The Supreme Court of Justice interprets laws and judges cases of federal competency. Other institutions of the judiciary are the
Federal Electoral Tribunal, collegiate, unitary and district tribunals, and the Council of the Federal Judiciary.[89]

Law enforcement

Public security is enacted at the three levels of government, each of which has different prerogatives and responsibilities. Local and state police departments are primarily in charge of law enforcement, whereas the
Mexican Federal Police
are in charge of specialized duties. All levels report to the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (Secretary of Public Security). The General Attorney's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) is the executive power's agency in charge of investigating and prosecuting crimes at the federal level, mainly those related to drug and arms trafficking,[93]
espionage, and bank robberies.[94]
The PGR operates the Federal Investigations Agency
(Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI) an investigative and preventive agency.[95]

While the government generally respects the human rights of its citizens, serious abuses of power have been reported in security operations in the southern part of the country and in indigenous communities and poor urban neighborhoods.[96]
The National Human Rights Commission has had little impact in reversing this trend, engaging mostly in documentation but failing to use its powers to issue public condemnations to the officials who ignore its recommendations.[97]
By law, all defendants have the rights that assure them fair trials and human treatment; however, the system is overburdened and overwhelmed with several problems.[96]

Despite the efforts of the authorities to fight crime and fraud, few Mexicans have strong confidence in the police or the judicial system, and therefore, few crimes are actually reported by the citizens.[96]
The Global Integrity Index
which measures the existence and effectiveness of national anti-corruption mechanisms rated Mexico 31st behind Kenya, Thailand, and Russia.[98]
In 2008, president Calderón proposed a major reform of the judicial system, which was approved by the Congress of the Union, which included oral trials, the presumption of innocence for defendants, the authority of local police to investigate crime—until then a prerogative of special police units—and several other changes intended to speed up trials.[99]

President
Felipe Calderón
made abating organized crime one of the top priorities of his administration by deploying military personnel to cities where drug cartels operate. This move was criticized by the opposition parties and the National Human Rights Commission for escalating the violence, but its effects have been positively evaluated by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
as having obtained "unprecedented results" with "many important successes".[107]

Since President Felipe Calderón launched a crackdown against cartels in 2006, more than 28,000 alleged criminals have been killed.[108][109]
Of the total drug-related violence 4% are innocent people,[110]
mostly by-passers and people trapped in between shootings; 90% accounts for criminals and 6% for military personnel and police officers.[110]
In October 2007, President Calderón and US president George W. Bush
announced the Mérida Initiative, a plan of law enforcement cooperation between the two countries.[111]

Military

The Mexican Armed Forces have two branches: the
Mexican Army
(which includes the Mexican Air Force), and the
Mexican Navy. The Mexican Armed Forces maintain significant infrastructure, including facilities for design, research, and testing of weapons, vehicles, aircraft, naval vessels, defense systems and electronics;[133][134]
military industry manufacturing centers for building such systems, and advanced naval dockyards that build heavy military vessels and advanced missile technologies.[135]

In recent years, Mexico has improved its training techniques, military command and information structures and has taken steps to becoming more self-reliant in supplying its military by designing as well as manufacturing its own arms,[136]
missiles,[134]
aircraft,[137]
vehicles, heavy weaponry, electronics,[133]
defense systems,[133]
armor, heavy military industrial equipment and heavy naval vessels.[138]
Since the 1990s, when the military escalated its role in the war on drugs, increasing importance has been placed on acquiring airborne surveillance platforms, aircraft,
helicopters, digital war-fighting technologies,[133]
urban warfare equipment and rapid troop transport.[139]

Mexico has the capabilities to manufacture nuclear weapons, but abandoned this possibility with the
Treaty of Tlatelolco
in 1968 and pledged to only use its nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.[140]
In 1970, Mexico's national institute for nuclear research successfully refined weapons grade uranium[141][not in citation given]
which is used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons but in April 2010, Mexico agreed to turn over its weapons grade uranium to the United States.[142][143]

Historically, Mexico has remained neutral in international conflicts,[144]with the exception of World War II. However, in recent years some political parties have proposed an amendment of the
Constitution
in order to allow the Mexican Army, Air Force or Navy to collaborate with the United Nations in peacekeeping missions, or to provide military help to countries that officially ask for it.[145]

On its north, Mexico shares a 3,141 km (1,952 mi)
border with the United States. The meandering Río Bravo del Norte (known as the
Rio Grande
in the United States) defines the border from Ciudad Juárez
east to the Gulf of Mexico. A series of natural and artificial markers delineate the United States-Mexican border west from Ciudad Juárez to the Pacific Ocean. On its south, Mexico shares an 871 km (541 mi) border with Guatemala and a 251 km (156 mi) border with Belize.

As such, the majority of the Mexican central and northern territories are located at high altitudes, and the highest elevations are found at the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt:
Pico de Orizaba
(5,700 m or 18,701 ft), Popocatepetl
(5,462 m or 17,920 ft) and Iztaccihuatl
(5,286 m or 17,343 ft) and the Nevado de Toluca
(4,577 m or 15,016 ft). Three major urban agglomerations are located in the valleys between these four elevations: Toluca,
Greater Mexico City
and Puebla.[148]

Climate

The
Tropic of Cancer
effectively divides the country into temperate and tropical zones. Land north of the twenty-fourth parallel experiences cooler temperatures during the winter months. South of the twenty-fourth parallel, temperatures are fairly constant year round and vary solely as a function of elevation. This gives Mexico one of the world's most diverse weather systems.

Areas south of the 24th parallel with elevations up to 1,000 m (3,281 ft) (the southern parts of both coastal plains as well as the
Yucatán Peninsula), have a yearly median temperature between 24 to 28 °C (75.2 to 82.4 °F). Temperatures here remain high throughout the year, with only a 5 °C (9 °F) difference between winter and summer median temperatures. Both Mexican coasts, except for the south coast of the Bay of Campeche and northern Baja, are also vulnerable to serious
hurricanes
during the summer and fall. Although low-lying areas north of the 24th parallel are hot and humid during the summer, they generally have lower yearly temperature averages (from 20 to 24 °C or 68.0 to 75.2 °F) because of more moderate conditions during the winter.

Many large cities in Mexico are located in the Valley of Mexico or in adjacent valleys with altitudes generally above 2,000 m (6,562 ft). This gives them a year-round temperate climate with yearly temperature averages (from 16 to 18 °C or 60.8 to 64.4 °F) and cool nighttime temperatures throughout the year.

Many parts of Mexico, particularly the north, have a dry climate with sporadic rainfall while parts of the tropical lowlands in the south average more than 2,000 mm (78.7 in) of annual precipitation. For example, many cities in the north like
Monterrey,
Hermosillo, and
Mexicali
experience temperatures of 40 °C (104 °F) or more in summer. In the Sonoran Desert
temperatures reach 50 °C (122 °F) or more.

In 2012, Mexico passed a comprehensive climate change bill, a first in the developing world, that has set a goal for the country to generate 35% of its energy from clean energy sources by 2024, and to cut emissions by 50% by 2050, from the level found in 2000.[149][150]

Biodiversity

Mexico is one of the 18
megadiverse countries
of the world. With over 200,000 different species, Mexico is home of 10–12% of the world's biodiversity.[151]
Mexico ranks first in biodiversity in reptiles
with 707 known species, second in mammals with 438 species, fourth in amphibians
with 290 species, and fourth in flora, with 26,000 different species.[152]
Mexico is also considered the second country in the world in ecosystems
and fourth in overall species.[153]
Approximately 2,500 species are protected by Mexican legislations.[153]

Economy

Mexico has the
15th largest
nominal GDP and the 11th largest
by purchasing power parity. GDP annual average growth for the period of 1995–2002 was 5.1%.[77]
Mexico's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in purchasing power parity
(PPP) was estimated at US $2.2602 trillion in 2015, and $1.3673 trillion in nominal exchange rates.[157]
As such, its standard of living, as measured in GDP in PPP per capita was US $18,714.05. The World Bank reported in 2009 that the country's Gross National Income
in market exchange rates was the second highest in Latin America, after Brazil
at US $1,830.392 billion,[158]
which lead to the highest income per capita
in the region at $14,400.[159]
As such, Mexico is now firmly established as an upper middle-income country. After the slowdown of 2001 the country has recovered and has grown 4.2, 3.0 and 4.8 percent in 2004, 2005 and 2006,[160]
even though it is considered to be well below Mexico's potential growth.[161]
Furthermore, after the 2008-2009 recession, the economy grew an average of 3.32 percent per year from 2010 to 2014.

From the late 1990s onwards, the majority of the population has been part of the growing middle class.[162]
But from 2004 to 2008 the portion of the population who received less than half of the median income has risen from 17% to 21% and the absolute levels of poverty rose from 2006 to 2010, with a rise in persons living in extreme or moderate poverty rising from 35 to 46% (52 million persons).[100][163]
This is also reflected by the fact that infant mortality in Mexico is three times higher than the average among OECD nations, and the literacy levels are in the median range of OECD nations. Nevertheless, according to Goldman Sachs, by 2050 Mexico will have the 5th largest economy in the world.[164]

Among the
OECD
countries, Mexico has the second highest degree of economic disparity between the extremely poor and extremely rich, after Chile – although it has been falling over the last decade, being only one of few countries in which this is the case.[165]
The bottom ten percent in the income hierarchy disposes of 1.36% of the country's resources, whereas the upper ten percent dispose of almost 36%. OECD also notes that Mexico's budgeted expenses for poverty alleviation and social development is only about a third of the OECD average – both in absolute and relative numbers.[100]

According to a 2008 UN report the average income in a typical urbanized area of Mexico was $26,654, while the average income in rural areas just miles away was only $8,403.[166]
Daily minimum wages are set annually by law and determined by zone; $67.29 Mexican pesos
($5.13 USD) in Zone A and $63.77 Mexican pesos ($4.86 USD) in Zone B.[167]

A tablet PC and touch screen computer / television made by Mexican Meebox.

The electronics industry of Mexico has grown enormously within the last decade. Mexico has the sixth largest electronics industry in the world after
China,
United States,
Japan,
South Korea, and
Taiwan. Mexico is the second largest exporter of electronics to the United States where it exported $71.4 billion worth of electronics in 2011.[168]
The Mexican electronics industry is dominated by the manufacture and OEM design of televisions, displays, computers, mobile phones, circuit boards, semiconductors, electronic appliances, communications equipment and LCD modules. The Mexican electronics industry grew 20% between 2010 and 2011, up from its constant growth rate of 17% between 2003 and 2009.[168]
Currently electronics represent 30% of Mexico's exports.[168]

Mexico produces the most automobiles of any North American nation.[169]
The industry produces technologically complex components and engages in some research and development activities.[170]
The "Big Three" (General Motors,
Ford
and Chrysler) have been operating in Mexico since the 1930s, while
Volkswagen
and Nissan
built their plants in the 1960s.[171]
In Puebla
alone, 70 industrial part-makers cluster around Volkswagen.[170]
In the 2010s expansion of the sector was surging. In 2014 alone, more than $10 billion in investment was committed. Kia Motors in August 2014 announced plans for a $1 billion factory in Nuevo León. At the time
Mercedes-Benz
and Nissan
were already building a $1.4 billion plant near Puebla, while BMW
was planning a $1-billion assembly plant in San Luis Potosí. Additionally,
Audi
began building a $1.3 billion factory near Puebla in 2013.[172]
The domestic car industry is represented by DINA S.A., which has built buses and trucks since 1962,[173]
and the new Mastretta
company that builds the high-performance Mastretta MXT
sports car.[174]
In 2006, trade with the United States and Canada accounted for almost 50% of Mexico's exports and 45% of its imports.[12]
During the first three quarters of 2010, the United States had a $46.0 billion trade deficit
with Mexico.[175]
In August 2010 Mexico surpassed France to became the 9th largest holder of US debt.[176]
The commercial and financial dependence on the US is a cause for concern.[177]

The remittances from Mexican citizens working in the United States account for 0.2% of Mexico's GDP[178]
which was equal to US$20 billion per year in 2004 and is the tenth largest source of foreign income after oil, industrial exports, manufactured goods, electronics, heavy industry, automobiles, construction, food, banking and financial services.[179]
According to Mexico's central bank, remittances in 2008 amounted to $25bn.[180]

Major players in the broadcasting industry are
Televisa, the largest Spanish media company in the Spanish-speaking world,[181]
and TV Azteca.

Communications

A Satmex
communications satellite being deployed from its launch vehicle

The telecommunications industry is mostly dominated by
Telmex
(Teléfonos de México), privatized in 1990. By 2006, Telmex had expanded its operations to Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay and the United States. Other players in the domestic industry are
Axtel
and Maxcom. Because of Mexican
orography, providing a landline telephone service at remote mountainous areas is expensive, and the penetration of line-phones per capita is low compared to other Latin American countries, at 40 percent; however, 82% of Mexicans over the age of 14 own a mobile phone. Mobile telephony has the advantage of reaching all areas at a lower cost, and the total number of mobile lines is almost two times that of landlines, with an estimation of 63 million lines.[182]
The telecommunication industry is regulated by the government through Cofetel
(Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones).

The Mexican satellite system is domestic and operates 120 earth stations. There is also extensive microwave radio relay network and considerable use of fiber-optic and coaxial cable.[182]
Mexican satellites are operated by Satélites Mexicanos
(Satmex), a private company, leader in Latin America and servicing both North and South America.[183]
It offers broadcast, telephone and telecommunication services to 37 countries in the Americas, from Canada to Argentina. Through business partnerships Satmex provides high-speed connectivity to ISPs and Digital Broadcast Services.[184]
Satmex maintains its own satellite fleet with most of the fleet being designed and built in Mexico.

The use of radio, television, and Internet in Mexico is prevalent.[185]
There are approximately 1,410 radio broadcast stations and 236 television stations (excluding repeaters).[182]
Major players in the broadcasting industry are Televisa—the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world[181]—and
TV Azteca.

Energy

Pemex, the public company in charge of exploration, extraction, transportation and marketing of crude oil and natural gas, as well as the refining and distribution of petroleum products and petrochemicals, is one of the largest companies in the world by revenue, making US $86 billion in sales a year.[186][187][188]
Mexico is the sixth-largest oil producer in the world, with 3.7 million barrels per day.[189]
In 1980 oil exports accounted for 61.6% of total exports; by 2000 it was only 7.3%.[170]

Mexico is the country with the world's third largest solar potential.[191]
The country's gross solar potential is estimated at 5kWh/m2 daily, which corresponds to 50 times national electricity generation.[192]
Currently, there is over 1 million square meters of solar thermal
panels[193]
installed in Mexico, while in 2005, there were 115,000 square meters of solar PV
(photo-voltaic). It is expected that in 2012 there will be 1,8 million square meters of installed solar thermal panels.[193]

The project named
SEGH-CFE 1, located in Puerto Libertad, Sonora, Northwest of Mexico, will have capacity of 46.8 MW from an array of 187,200 solar panels when complete in 2013.[194]
All of the electricity will be sold directly to the CFE and absorbed into the utility’s transmission system for distribution throughout their existing network. At an installed capacity of 46.8 MWp, when complete in 2013, the project will be the first utility scale project of its kind in Mexico and the largest solar project of any kind in Latin America.

Science and technology

The
National Autonomous University of Mexico
was officially established in 1910,[195]
and the university become one of the most important institutes of higher learning in Mexico.[196]
UNAM provides world class education in science, medicine, and engineering.[197]
Many scientific institutes and new institutes of higher learning, such as National Polytechnic Institute
(founded in 1936),[198]
were established during the first half of the 20th century. Most of the new research institutes were created within UNAM. Twelve institutes were integrated into UNAM from 1929 to 1973.[199]
In 1959, the Mexican Academy of Sciences
was created to coordinate scientific efforts between academics.

In recent years, the largest scientific project being developed in Mexico was the construction of the
Large Millimeter Telescope
(Gran Telescopio Milimétrico, GMT), the world's largest and most sensitive single-aperture telescope in its frequency range.[202]
It was designed to observe regions of space obscured by stellar dust.

Tourism

Mexico has been traditionally among the
most visited countries in the world
according to the World Tourism Organization and it is the most visited country in the Americas, after the United States. The most notable attractions are the Meso-American
ruins, cultural festivals, colonial cities, nature reserves and the beach resorts. The nation's temperate climate and unique culture – a fusion of the European and the Meso-American – make Mexico an attractive destination. The peak tourism seasons in the country are during December and the mid-Summer, with brief surges during the week before Easter
and Spring break, when many of the beach resort sites become popular destinations for college students from the
United States.

Mexico has the 23rd highest income from tourism in the world, and the highest in Latin America.[203]
The vast majority of tourists come to Mexico from the United States and Canada followed by Europe and Asia. A smaller number also come from other Latin American countries.[204]
In the 2011 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index
report, Mexico was ranked 43rd in the world, which was 4th in the Americas .[205]

The coastlines of Mexico harbor many stretches of
beaches
that are frequented by sun bathers and other visitors. On the Yucatán peninsula, one of the most popular beach destinations is the resort town of Cancún, especially among
universitystudents
during spring break. Just offshore is the beach island of
Isla Mujeres, and to the east is the
Isla Holbox. To the south of Cancun is the coastal strip called
Riviera Maya
which includes the beach town of Playa del Carmen
and the ecological parks of Xcaret
and Xel-Há. A day trip to the south of Cancún is the historic port of Tulum. In addition to its beaches, the town of Tulum is notable for its cliff-side
Mayan
ruins.

On the
Pacific
coast is the notable tourist destination of Acapulco. Once the destination for the rich and famous, the beaches have become crowded and the shores are now home to many multi-story hotels and vendors. Acapulco is home to renowned cliff divers: trained divers who leap from the side of a vertical cliff into the surf below.

Transportation

The roadway network in Mexico is extensive and all areas in the country are covered by it.[207]
The roadway network in Mexico has an extent of 366,095 km (227,481 mi),[208]
of which 116,802 km (72,577 mi) are paved,[208]
making it the largest paved-roadway network in Latin America.[209]
Of these, 10,474 km (6,508 mi) are multi-lane expressways: 9,544 km (5,930 mi) are four-lane highways and the rest have 6 or more lanes.[208]

Mexico was one of the first Latin American countries to promote railway development,[96]
and the network covers 30,952 km (19,233 mi).[185]
The Secretary of Communications and Transport
of Mexico proposed a high-speed rail link that will transport its passengers from Mexico City
to Guadalajara,
Jalisco.[210][211]
The train, which will travel at 300 kilometers per hour,[212]
will allow passengers to travel from Mexico City to Guadalajara in just 2 hours.[212]
The whole project was projected to cost 240 billion pesos, or about 25 billion US$[210]
and is being paid for jointly by the Mexican government and the local private sector including the wealthiest man in the world, Mexico's billionaire business tycoon Carlos Slim.[213]
The government of the state of Yucatán
is also funding the construction of a high speed line connecting the cities of Cozumel
to Mérida
and Chichen Itza
and Cancún.[214]

Mexico has 233 airports with paved runways; of these, 35 carry 97% of the passenger traffic.[185]
The Mexico City International Airport
remains the largest in Latin America and the 44th largest in the world[215]
transporting 21 million passengers a year.[216]

The recently conducted 2010 Census[218]
showed a population of 112,336,538, making it the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.[219]
Between 2005 and 2010, the Mexican population grew at an average of 1.70% per year, up from 1.16% per year between 2000 and 2005.

Mexico is ethnically diverse; the various indigenous peoples and European
immigrants
are united under a single national identity.[220]
The core part of Mexican national identity is formed on the basis of a synthesis of European culture with Indigenous cultures in a process known as mestizaje, alluding to the mixed biological origins of the majority of Mexicans.[220][221]
Mexican politicians and reformers such as José Vasconcelos
and Manuel Gamio
were instrumental in building a Mexican national identity on the concept of mestizaje.[222]

Since the mestizo identity promoted by the government is more of a cultural identity than a biological one it has achieved a strong influence in the country, with a good number of biologically
white people
identifiyng with it, leading to being considered mestizos in Mexico's demographic investigations and censuses due the ethnic criteria having its base on cultural traits rather than biological ones.[223]
A similar situation occurs regarding the distinctions between indigenous peoples and mestizos: while the term mestizo
is sometimes used in English with the meaning of a person with mixed indigenous and European blood, this usage does not conform to the Mexican social reality where a person of pure indigenous genetic heritage would be considered Mestizo either by rejecting his indigenous culture or by not speaking an indigenous language,[224]
and a person with a very low percentage of indigenous genetic heritage would be considered fully indigenous either by speaking an indigenous language or by identifying with a particular indigenous cultural heritage.[225][226][227]

The term
mestizo
itself, albeit often used in literature about Mexican social identities, carries a variety of socio-cultural, economic, racial and biological meanings. For this reason it has been deemed too imprecise to be used for ethnic classification and has been abandoned in Mexican censuses.[96][228]

The category of
indígena
(indigenous) can be defined narrowly according to linguistic criteria including only speakers of one of Mexico's 62 indigenous languages
or people who self-identify as having an indigenous cultural background. According to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, in 2005[update]
there were 10.1 million Mexicans who spoke an indigenous language and claimed indigenous heritage, representing 9.8% of the total population.[229]
Another source, the 2010 census, found that 14.86% of the population self-identified as indigenous.[230]

Mexico is home to the largest number of U.S. citizens abroad (estimated at one million in 1999).[231]
The Argentine community is considered to be the second-largest foreign community in the country (estimated somewhere between 30,000 and 150,000).[232][233]
Mexico also has a large Lebanese
community, now numbering around 400,000.[234]
In October 2008, Mexico agreed to deport Cubans
using the country as an entry point to the US.[235]
Large numbers of Central American migrants
who have crossed Guatemala's western border into Mexico are deported every year.[236][237]
Small numbers of illegal immigrants come from Ecuador, Cuba, China, South Africa, and
Pakistan.[238]
Mexico is the largest source of immigration to the United States.[239]
11.6 million Americans listed their ancestry as Mexican as of 2014[update].[240]

Indigenous peoples

According to the
National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples
(Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, or CDI in
Spanish) and the
INEGI
(official census institute), there are 15.7 million indigenous people in Mexico,[241]
of many different ethnic groups,[229]
which constitute 14.9% of the population in the country. The number of indigenous Mexicans is judged using the political criteria found in the 2nd article of the Mexican constitution. The Mexican census does not report racial-ethnicity but only the cultural-ethnicity of indigenous communities that preserve their indigenous languages, traditions, beliefs, and cultures. The absolute indigenous population is growing, but at a slower rate than the rest of the population so that the percentage of indigenous peoples is nonetheless falling.[242]

In 2011 a large scale mitochondrial sequencing in Mexican Americans revealed 85 to 90% of mtDNA lineages of Native American origin, with the remainder having European (5–7%) or African ancestry (3–5%). Thus the observed frequency of Native American mtDNA in Mexican/Mexican Americans is higher than was expected on the basis of autosomal estimates of Native American admixture for these populations i.e. ~ 30–46%[243]

The category of "indigena" (indigenous) can be defined narrowly according to linguistic criteria including only persons that speak one of
Mexico's 62 indigenous languages, this is the categorization used by the National Mexican Institute of Statistics. It can also be defined broadly to include all persons who selfidentify as having an indigenous cultural background, whether or not they speak the language of the indigenous group they identify with. This means that the percentage of the Mexican population defined as "indigenous" varies according to the definition applied, cultural activists have referred to the usage of the narrow definition of the term for census purposes as "statistical genocide".[244][245]

The majority of the indigenous population is concentrated in the central and southern states. These states are generally the least developed, and the majority of the indigenous population live in rural areas. Some indigenous communities have a degree of autonomy under the legislation of "usos y costumbres", which allows them to regulate some internal issues under
customary law.

All of the indices of social development for the indigenous population are considerably lower than the national average. In all states indigenous people have higher
infant mortality, in some states almost double of the non-indigenous populations. Literacy rates are also much lower, with 27% of indigenous children between 6 and 14 being illiterate compared to a national average of 12%. The indigenous population participate in the workforce longer than the national average, starting earlier and continuing longer. However, 55% of the indigenous population receive less than a minimum salary, compared to 20% for the national average. Many practice subsistence agriculture and receive no salaries. Indigenous people also have less access to health care and a lower quality of housing.[247]

Mestizo

A large majority of Mexicans have been classified as "Mestizos", meaning in modern Mexican usage that they identify fully neither with any indigenous culture nor with a particular non-Mexican heritage, but rather identify as having cultural traits and heritage incorporating elements from indigenous and European traditions. By the deliberate efforts of post-revolutionary governments the "Mestizo identity" was constructed as the base of the modern Mexican national identity, through a process of cultural synthesis referred to as
mestizaje. Mexican politicians and reformers such as
José Vasconcelos
and Manuel Gamio
were instrumental in building a Mexican national identity on the concept of mestizaje.[248][249]
Cultural policies in early post-revolutionary Mexico were paternalistic towards the indigenous people, with efforts designed to "help" indigenous peoples achieve the same level of progress as the rest of society, eventually assimilating indigenous peoples completely to Mestizo Mexican culture, working toward the goal of eventually solving the "Indian problem" by transforming indigenous communities into mestizo communities.[250]

The term "Mestizo" is not in wide use in Mexican society today and has been dropped as a category in population censuses; it is, however, still used in social and cultural studies when referring to the non-indigenous part of the Mexican population. The word has somewhat pejorative connotations and most of the Mexican citizens who would be defined as mestizos in the sociological literature would probably self-identify primarily as Mexicans. In the Yucatán peninsula the word Mestizo is even used about
Maya-speaking populations living in traditional communities, because during the
caste war
of the late 19th century those Maya who did not join the rebellion were classified as mestizos.[251]
In Chiapas the word "Ladino" is used instead of mestizo.[252]

Mexicans of European descent

White Mexicans are Mexican
citizens
of full European
descent.[253]
Although Mexico does not have a racial census, some international organizations believe that Mexican people of Spanish or predominantly European descent make up approximately one-sixth (16.5%) of the country's population.[217]
Another group in Mexico, the "mestizos", also include people with varying amounts of European ancestry, with some having a European admixture superior to 90%.[254]
Because of this, the line between whites and mestizos has become rather blurry, and the Mexican government decided to abandon racial classifications.[253]

Despite that extra-official sources estimate the modern white population of Mexico to be only 9–16%, in genetic studies Mexico consistently shows a European admixture comparable to countries that report white populations of 52% – 77% (in the case of Chile and Costa Rica, who average 51%[255]
& 60%[256]
European admixture respectively, while studies in the general Mexican population have found European ancestry ranging from 56%[257]
going to 60%,[258]
64%[259]
and up to 78%[260]). The differences between genetic ancestry and reported numbers could be attributed to the influence of the concept known as "mestizaje", which was promoted by the post-revolutionary government in an effort to create a united Mexican cultural identity with no racial distinctions.[222]

Europeans began arriving in Mexico with the
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, with the descendents of the
conquistadors, along with new arrivals from Spain formed an elite but never a majority of the population. Intermixing would produce a mestizo group which would become the majority by the time of
Independence, but power remained firmly in the hands of the elite, called “criollo.”

While most of European or
Caucasian
migration into Mexico was Spanish
during the colonial period, in the 19th and 20th centuries European and European derived populations from North
and South America
did immigrate to the country. However, at its height, the total immigrant population in Mexico never exceeded twenty percent of the total.[261]
Many of these immigrants came with money to invest and/or ties to allow them to become prominent in business and other aspects of Mexican society. However, due to government restrictions many of them left the country in the early 20th century.

Mexico's northern regions have the greatest European population and admixture. In the northwest, the majority of the relatively small indigenous communities remain isolated from the rest of the population, and as for the northeast, the indigenous population was eliminated by early European settlers, becoming the region with the highest proportion of whites during the
Spanish colonial period. However, recent immigrants from southern Mexico have been changing, to some degree, its demographic trends.[262]

Population genetics

An 18th-century casta
painting show an indigenous woman with her Spanish husband and their Mestizo child

A study by the National Institute of Genomic Medicine, Mexico reported that Mestizo Mexicans are 58.96% European, 31.05% "Asian" (Amerindian), and 10.03% African. Sonora shows the highest European contribution (70.63%) and Guerrero the lowest (51.98%) which also has the highest Asian contribution (37.17%). African contribution ranges from 2.8% in Sonora to 11.13% in Veracruz. 80% of the Mexican population was classed as mestizo (defined as "being racially mixed in some degree").[265]

In May 2009, Mexico's National Institute of Genomic Medicine issued a report on a genomic study of 300 mestizos from the states of Guerrero, Sonora, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas, and Guanajuato. The study found that the Mestizo population of these Mexican states were on average 55% of indigenous ancestry followed by 41.8% of European, 1.8% of African, and 1.2% of East Asian ancestry.[266]

The study also noted that whereas Mestizo individuals from the southern state of Guerrero showed on average 66% of indigenous ancestry, those from the northern state of Sonora displayed about 61.6% European ancestry. The study found that there was an increase in indigenous ancestry as one traveled towards to the Southern states in Mexico, while the indigenous ancestry declined as one traveled to the Northern states in the country, such as Sonora.[266]

Languages

A map showing the distribution of speakers of Mexico's main indigenous languages

The country has the largest Spanish-speaking population in the world with almost a third of all Spanish native speakers.[219][267]

Mexico is home to a large number of indigenous languages, spoken by some 5.4% of the population – 1.2% of the population are monolingual speakers of an indigenous language.[268]
The indigenous languages with most speakers are Nahuatl, spoken by approximately 1.45 million people,[269]Yukatek Maya
spoken by some 750,000 people and the Mixtec[270]
and Zapotec languages[271]
each spoken by more than 400,000 people.

The National Institute of Indigenous Languages
INALI
recognizes 68 linguistic groups and some 364 different specific varieties of indigenous languages.[272]
Since the promulgation of the Law of Indigenous Linguistic Rights in 2003, these languages have had status as national languages, with equal validity with Spanish in all the areas and contexts in which they are spoken.[273]

The 92,924,489[275]
Catholics of Mexico constitute in absolute terms the second largest Catholic community in the world, after Brazil's.[276]
47% percent of them attend church services weekly.[277]
The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, is celebrated on December 12 and is regarded by many Mexicans as the most important religious holiday of their country.[278]

The 2010 census reported 314,932 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[275]
though the church in 2009 claimed to have over one million registered members.[279]
About 25% of registered members attend a weekly sacrament service although this can fluctuate up and down.[280]

Gender equality

The
World Economic Forum
2011 Global Gender Gap Report
ranked Mexico 89th out of 135 countries for gender parity, making it one of the least gender-balanced countries in North America, particularly to the disadvantage of women, who have a below average degree of political participation and labor equality. Education and health indicators for Mexican women were however better than the average in the study.[284]

Metropolitan areas

Metropolitan areas in Mexico have been traditionally defined as the group of municipalities that heavily interact with each other, usually around a core city.[285]
In 2004, a joint effort between CONAPO, INEGI
and the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) agreed to define metropolitan areas as either:[285]

the group of two or more municipalities in which a city with a population of at least 50,000 is located whose urban area extends over the limit of the municipality that originally contained the core city incorporating either physically or under its area of direct influence other adjacent predominantly urban municipalities all of which have a high degree of social and economic integration or are relevant for urban politics and administration; or

a single municipality in which a city of a population of at least one million is located and fully contained, (that is, it does not transcend the limits of a single municipality); or

a city with a population of at least 250,000 which forms a
conurbation
with other cities in the United States.

Culture

Mexican culture reflects the complexity of the
country's history
through the blending of indigenous cultures and the culture of Spain, imparted during Spain's 300-year colonization of Mexico. Exogenous cultural elements have been incorporated into Mexican culture as time has passed.

The Porfirian era (el
Porfiriato), in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, was marked by economic progress and peace. After four decades of civil unrest and war, Mexico saw the development of philosophy and the arts, promoted by President Díaz himself. Since that time, as accentuated during the
Mexican Revolution, cultural identity has had its foundation in the
mestizaje, of which the indigenous (i.e. Amerindian) element is the core. In light of the various ethnicities that formed the Mexican people,
José Vasconcelos
in his publication La Raza Cósmica
(The Cosmic Race) (1925) defined Mexico to be the melting pot of all races (thus extending the definition of the mestizo) not only biologically but culturally as well.[286]

Literature

The literature of Mexico has its antecedents in the literatures of the indigenous settlements of Mesoamerica. The most well known prehispanic poet is
Nezahualcoyotl. Modern Mexican literature was influenced by the concepts of the Spanish colonialization of
Mesoamerica. Outstanding colonial writers and poets include
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
and Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Mesoamerican architecture
is mostly noted for its pyramids which are the largest such structures outside of Ancient Egypt.[citation needed]Spanish Colonial architecture
is marked by the contrast between the simple, solid construction demanded by the new environment and the Baroque ornamentation exported from Spain.[citation needed]
Mexico, as the center of New Spain has some of the most renowned buildings built in this style.

Two of the major television networks based in Mexico are
Televisa
and TV Azteca. Televisa is also the largest producer of Spanish-language content in the world and also the world's largest Spanish-language media network.[288]Grupo Multimedios
is another media conglomerate with Spanish-language broadcasting in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. The telenovelas
are very traditional in Mexico and are translated to many languages and seen all over the world with renowned names like Verónica Castro,
Lucía Méndez,
Lucero, and
Thalía.

Music

Mariachi at the Festival del Mariachi, Charrería y Tequila in San Juan de los Lagos, Mexico

Mexican society enjoys a vast array of music genres, showing the diversity of Mexican culture. Traditional music includes
Mariachi,
Banda,
Norteño,
Ranchera
and Corridos; on an every-day basis most Mexicans listen to contemporary music such as
pop, rock, etc. in both English and Spanish. Mexico has the largest media industry in Latin America, producing Mexican artists who are famous in Central and South America and parts of Europe, especially Spain.

According to the Sistema Nacional de Fomento Musical, there are between 120 and 140 youth orchestras affiliated to this federal agency from all federal states.[citation needed]
Some states, through their state agencies in charge of culture and the arts—Ministry or Secretary or Institute or Council of Culture, in some cases Secretary of Education or the State University—sponsor the activities of a professional Symphony Orchestra or Philharmonic Orchestra
so all citizens can have access to this artistic expression from the field of classical music. Mexico City is the most intense hub of this activity hosting 12 professional orchestras sponsored by different agencies such as the National Institute of Fine Arts, the Secretary of Culture of the Federal District, The National University, the National Polytechnic Institute, a Delegación Política (Coyoacán) and very few are a kind of private ventures.[citation needed]

Cuisine

Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices. Most of today's Mexican food is based on pre-Columbian traditions, including Aztec and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists.

Mexican food varies by region, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its beef, goat and
ostrich
production and meat dishes, in particular the well-known Arrachera
cut.

Chocolate
is native to Mesoamerica, and was prominent in Aztec cuisine. The word is derived from the Nahuatl
word xocolatl. Early traces of chocolate have been found in Olmec pottery.[289]

Southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes. The cuisine of Southeastern Mexico also has quite a bit of Caribbean influence, given its geographical location.
Veal
is common in the Yucatan. Seafood is commonly prepared in the states that border the Pacific Ocean or the
Gulf of Mexico, the latter having a famous reputation for its fish dishes, in particular à la veracruzana.

In modern times, other cuisines of the world have become very popular in Mexico, thus adopting a Mexican fusion. For example, sushi in Mexico is often made with a variety of sauces based on
mango
or tamarind, and very often served with
serrano-chili-blended soy sauce, or complemented with vinegar,
habanero
and chipotle
peppers

Mexico's most popular sport is association football (soccer). It is commonly believed that football was introduced in Mexico by
Cornish
miners at the end of the 19th century. By 1902 a five-team league had emerged with a strong British influence.[292][293]
Mexico's top clubs are Guadalajara
with 11 championships, América
with 11 and Toluca
with 10.[294]Antonio Carbajal
was the first player to appear in five World Cups,[295]
and Hugo Sánchez
was named best CONCACAF
player of the 20th century by IFFHS.[296]

The Mexican professional baseball league is named the
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol. While usually not as strong as the United States, the Caribbean countries and Japan,
Mexico
has nonetheless achieved several international baseball titles.[citation needed]
Mexico has had several players signed by Major League teams, the most famous of them being Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela.

Bullfighting
is a popular sport in the country, and almost all large cities have bullrings. Plaza México
in Mexico City, is the largest bullring in the world, which seats 55,000 people. Professional wrestling (or Lucha libre
in Spanish) is a major crowd draw with national promotions such as AAA, LLL,
CMLL
and others.

Notable Mexican athletes include golfer
Lorena Ochoa, who was ranked first in the
LPGA
world rankings prior to her retirement,[299]Ana Guevara, former world champion of the 400 metres (1,300 ft) and Olympic subchampion in Athens 2004, and
Fernando Platas, a numerous Olympic medal winning diver.

Health care

Since the early 1990s, Mexico entered a transitional stage in the health of its population and some indicators such as mortality patterns are identical to those found in highly developed countries like Germany or Japan.[300]
Mexico's medical infrastructure is highly rated for the most part and is usually excellent in major cities,[301][302]
but rural communities still lack equipment for advanced medical procedures, forcing patients in those locations to travel to the closest urban areas to get specialized medical care.[96]Social determinants of health
can be used to evaluate the state of health in Mexico.

Medical training is done mostly at public universities with much specializations done in vocational or internship settings. Some public universities in Mexico, such as the
University of Guadalajara, have signed agreements with the U.S. to receive and train American students in Medicine. Health care costs in private institutions and prescription drugs in Mexico are on average lower than that of its North American economic partners.[301]